What is a commodity?
A commodity is a good that is produced or sold.It is uniform between different producers.This means you can’t tell the difference from one producer to the other.Some examples are grain, corn, oil, gold, etc.
How are commodities investments?
Commodities are bought and sold similar to other investments, but they are initially acquired differently. We’ll use a corn farmer and his corn as an example.
A farmer starts to grow his corn and notices that the price of corn is fair. He wants to get a good price for his corn, so he sells it now to lock it in, even before it has finished growing. A commodity investor buys it. Then other investors can continue to buy and sell the commodity and then sell it to manufacturers and whoever needs it when it is harvested.
This goes basically the same for any type of commodity.
Should I invest in commodities?
Commodities are a fairly good investment if you are weary about getting into the stock market. It isn’t as complex and time consuming as real estate can be, but you can still make a good return with it if you buy and sell accordingly.
It is just like trading stocks and bonds but with physical products.You don’t actually buy the products and store it in your home, you have title to it.
Investing in commodities is good if you think a particular commodity will do well. For example, if you see gold start edging up in price, you can buy as much as you can and wait for the price to increase.
Commodities might not be great for your retirement portfolio, but if you give them a try, you may see some success. If you just want to own them without having to worry about them, buy into a mutual fund that is invested in commodities.